How Mozambique turned from war zone to tourist hotspot

Africa's rising star – Mozambique's breathtaking scenery and sunsets is putting the country on the map as a top tourist destination.

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Africa's rising star – A boat in the Bazaruto Archipelago south of the country. The area is a protected National Park which includes a group of five islands.

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Africa's rising star – People walk across the water to the island of Mozambique once the tide is out. Along the route locals collect different types of seafood to sell at market.

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Africa's rising star – A Madagascar Bee-eater on Bazaruto Island. It's estimated over 160 different birds have been identified on the islands.

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Africa's rising star – There are a number of Jazz café's in the capital Maputo. The band Ghorwane play the area's famous style of music called marrabenta, a mix of traditional and urban dance music.

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Africa's rising star – With 2,500 km of coastline along the warm Indian Ocean, Mozambique has a number of beautiful beaches.

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Africa's rising star – Most of the country is covered in a series of small villages.

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Africa's rising star – For generations fishermen outside the capital Maputo have been bringing in their catch the same way and selling them in nearby markets.

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Story highlights

It has been nearly 20 years since Mozambique's civil war ended

The capital Maputo has a number of lively cafes and Jazz venues

With 2,500km of coastline there are a number of unspoilt beaches

The markets are bursting with fresh fish caught by local fishermen

Once marred by conflict, Mozambique is slowly emerging as a popular tourist destination as people are drawn in by the tropical weather, beautiful beaches and rich culture.

Mozambique's capital, Maputo is a vibrant and cosmopolitan city bursting with lively sidewalk cafes and jazz venues.

One of Maputo's landmark buildings is the train station designed by an associate of the famous French engineer Alexandre Gustave Eiffel.

Today the train station he inspired rarely sees trains, instead its jazz cafe is among the city's best night spots.

The music likely to be performed there is marrabenta, a mix of traditional and urban dance music that was born in the capital.

"It's really become a national genre," said Joao Carlos Schwalba, a musician with the band Ghorwane.

"It was created in the south but slowly it has such a strong rhythm, it really became a national rhythm you can hear it in the south, the center and the north," he continued.

The official language is Portuguese, after settlers first arrived in Mozambique in the 15th century.

Colonial era architecture and relics can be found across the country but the nation has also preserved much of its African cultural heritage, making for an interesting and diverse mix of old and new.

The city has undergone major redevelopment since the end of the civil war and any reminders of the country's brutal past are being carefully transformed in to points of interest. And it is proving a draw with tourists; government figures show that four times as many tourists visited the country in 2010 compared to 2004.

Investment in tourism began in 1992, following a peace agreement, which brought an end to 16 years of civil war in the country.

The old fort in the capital, built by the Portuguese nearly 200 years ago, is a symbol of the country's, sometimes violent, colonial past.

But a group of Mozambique artists are working in the building to transform reminders of Mozambique's more recent civil war into pieces of art.

Nucleo de arte or Arms to Art is a creative form of demobilization. The group have collected some 800,000 guns spanning two wars and four decades and are working on transforming them into works of art.